In August and September 2010 I travelled along the west coast of the USA. I was lured to this country especially by the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail that runs from the mexican border of the USA to the border with Canada. The trail winds through many of the most spectacular landscapes in North America, especially through many national parks and wilderness areas. Consistent with its name the PCT try to climb to the highest elevations of the country, along the high ridges and over the highest passes. It was clear for me, that I don't have any chance to complete the whole PCT in only two months, because it takes usually 4 to 6 months. So I constrained my hiking to two most interesting parts of the trail: the High Sierra and the Washington State. Unfortunately I underestimated the big distances in this country. So after crossing the High Sierra I have only time to visit by the car the most spectacular national parks in the North West of USA, where I made only one day trekking, although longer tours were possible there too.
Besides the spectacular nature the West Coast of the USA offers many interesting big and small cities, which could look very different. So is the townscape of San Francisco very different from the cityscape of Los Angeles. In the rural areas I was impressed by the huge size of the private estates comparing to Europe. Unfortunately others as in Germany the is no free entry for everybody to these private areas, e.g. no hiking or jogging is allowed in the private forest. The private land properties were the biggest obstacle to the completion of the PCT. For example rather than traversing the length of the Tehachapi Mountains as intended, the PCT for the most part follows miles of roads along the west side of the high desert area of Antelope Valley, because the owners of the mammoth Tejon Ranch, about the size of Sequoia National Park, didn't allow to cross their properties. The lack of the free entry rights may be not serious problem in such big country like USA, in small and densely populated Germany it would have very negative impact on the living standard.

Please click on the photo above to see the short travel report.

Please click on the photo above to see the long travel report. This report is menu driven.

For somebody from Europe USA seams to be a well known country, because of the many Holywood movies consumed all the year round. Nevertheless the reality is often others, so I had to revise my opinion about the country and its people in many points. Other than expected the country prove to be surprising clean, littering on the highway was punished with 1000 Dollar fines. One more widespread stereotype is the fast food diet of the American people. But I found many excellent international restaurants even in the smaller cities and a lot of organic food in better groceries. Although almost each American citizen owns a fire gun, I haven't been confronted with any crime during my stay there. I actually always felt very secure, even in the big cities like L.A. The most American people turned out to be very nice and helpful to the foreigners, an opinion which I share with other travelers. They spontaneously offered to take me to the remote starting point of the trail, at the campgrounds they invited me often to drink a beer with them. One time somebody even secretly paid for me the campground!
Altogether I was glad to visit the West Coast of the USA. I always wanted to see some natural wonders of this country. And it was interesting to meet the american people in their own country and to find out, what they are thinking about some themes. It's very likable, that my positive experiences with the people and the country on the West Coast of the USA are valid in the other parts of the country too, so it would be worth to visit them one day too.
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